Trip to Mountains, Part Two

The second day of our trip, we went on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Andrew and Seth drove with Grandma and Grandpa and Logan and Noah were with me and Katsu.  We went to the visitors center, which was kind of boring, and then we drove up to Craggy Gardens.  At the visitors center, Noah had a huge blow-out – the pants could not be rescued, so he only wore a diaper on bottom the rest of the day!  You can hike without pants, it turns out, if you are just almost 2. Andrew also got Junior Ranger stuff here, too.

We stopped at several beautiful overlooks along the way.  We were going to do the trail at the visitors’ center first, but the parking lot was packed, so we went to the Pinnacle Hike first.  I was nervous it would be too hard, but it was actually great (take all reviews with a grain of salt, I have learned).  It was pretty steep, but not too bad.  It went through beautiful heath.  I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in May with the Rhodendrum blooming.  There are wildflowers everywhere and they are really quite beautiful.  Amazing how many pretty flowers there are so high up.  We all made it to the top – I, like almost every hike, carried Noah almost the entire way.  He will walk some when it is rocky.  He loves rocks.  And he will point out every. Single. Rock.  And try to pick half of them up.  Also a huge lover of flowers, butterflies, and mushrooms.  The view from the top was lovely.  We hiked down and enjoyed it (the boys alternatingly loved it or complained the whole time, but I would rather they complain in beautiful scenery than at home!).

Grandpa was feeling tired and worried about another climb with his knees, so he and Logan sat in the Visitors Center, while we made the climb up from there.  At first, it seemed just the same, and I was wondering if it was worth it.  But then we got the bald and it was gorgeous!  Amazing, this meadow in the middle of mountains.  It was great to climb through and the grass was almost as tall as Noah.  Nice views and then down again.  We only got camera phone pictures because we forgot to take the camera on this hike.

Afterwards, we stopped at the Folk Art Center.  Noah was asleep, so we took turns looking at it.  The crafts were beautiful – Katsu bought a little Christmas ornament.  Would have been fun to see more of if we didn’t have the kids.  Andrew and Seth and I did a little hike looking at trees around the center for his Junior Ranger and then we went back to the farm.